As is well known in the art, it is desirable to provide an attractive and durable interior headliner for use in covering the underside of a vehicle roof. It is important, of course, that such headliners be of low cost and be relatively simple to manufacture and convenient to install. It has heretofore been the practice to utilize three basic types of headliner constructions, the first of which is referred to in the industry as a "cut-and-sewn" headliner, and comprises a plurality of sections of suitable woven, knitted or supported vinyl fabric that are sewn together at longitudinally spaced increments and secured to a series of laterally extending listing wires or plastic bows which, on assembly, are secured to the upper edges of the roof in a manner such that the fabric can be tensioned to conform with the general contour of the roof. Typically, cut-and-sewn headliners are fabricated at automobile trim plants by highly skilled labor. The second type of headliner construction that has found significant acceptance and use is of a relatively rigid molded construction and retained in place through the use of trim moldings and the like. Such molded headliners have typically been fabricated of molded fiberglas and molded hardboard and have been of the "one-piect" or integral design.
Each of the above types of headliner constructions exhibit a number of advantageous and desirable features, although the designs heretofore known and used have also been subject to objectionable criticism. For example, cut-and-sewn headliners have been found to be highly acceptable from a weight and appearance standpoint, but are highly susceptible to being torn or ripped. Cut-and-sewn headlinders are also advantageous because a wide variety of materials can be used so as to provide variations in grade, quality, etc. More importantly, however, because it is necessary to use highly skilled workers to fabricate and install cut-and-sewn headliners, there is a significant labor expense factor involved. One additional problem with cut-and-sewn headlinders results when fabric sections of mismatched colors, textures or dye lots, etc., are combined during assembly of the headliners. Also, cut-and-sewn headliners frequently require a time consuming steaming operation to remove wrinkles in the fabric after installation thereof.
Fiberglas molded headliners have heretofore been fabricated with a fiberglas batt substrate having a woven fiberglas covering medium, both of which are simultaneously molded in a high temperature environment. Because of such high temperature conditions, the variety of different types of covering medium has been extremely limited to those materials that will accept the high molding temperatures, namely glass cloth. Molded fiberglas headliners exhibit acceptable heat and sound insulating characteristics, although they have been found to be quite brittle and hence highly susceptible to fracture during handling. Another objection resides in the fact that fiberglas headliners, like molded hardboard headliners, require costly tooling. Additionally, such headliners, while being fairly lightweight, have a relatively hard surface confronting the interior of the vehicle and hence poor tactile quality.
In some instances, it is necessary to install one-piece molded headliners through the windshield or backlite openings in a vehicle body and hence before either the windshield or backlite of the vehicle have been assembled. This procedure, however, has been found to be repugnant to certain manufacturers, particularly where the established manufacturing techniques call for the vehicle body to have all windows installed and completely water tested, i.e., subjected to high pressure water sprays, etc., before any interior soft trim components are placed within the passenger compartment. Additionally, some types of one-piece headliners heretofore known and currently used have been found to be aesthetically objectionable due to the existence of exposed raw edges and fold lines.
Molded hardboard headliners are most commonly fabricated with perforations which facilitate forming, with a suitable covering medium, usually foam backed vinyl, being provided on the underside of the headliner. While molded hardboard headliners provide reasonably good sound absorbing qualities, production tooling is extremely costly, as previously mentioned, and the resultant product has been found to be objectionably heavy and highly susceptible to breakage. Lower cost versions of molded hardboard headliners eliminate the use of the covering medium, with the underside thereof being suitably textured and colored, resulting in a product having poor sound absorbing qualities.
The third and final type of headliner construction heretofore known and used is of the one-piece bent or curved construction which is usually fabricated of a hardboard-like material. Typically, however, this type of headliner consists of multiple layers of kraft paper and polyethylene on the opposite sides of a Styrofoam core. Certain higher quality versions utilize perforated foam backed vinyl or a knapped tricot knitted fabric so as to exhibit better tactile and sound absorbing qualities. In its least expensive form, one-piece bent headliners have poor aesthetic and sound absorbing qualities, although being relatively inexpensive and lightweight. The main objection to such type headliners resides in the fact that raw die cut edges are exposed, as are certain score lines, which give the appearance similar to that of looking into a large box. To those skilled in the art, the most desirable features of such one-piece bent headliners reside in the low cost of manufacture, low tooling costs and ease of installation.
The present invention provides a new and improved headliner construction which is intended to overcome the objectionable characteristics of each of the aforedescribed types of headliners heretofore known and used. More particularly, the present invention provides a novel headliner construction that has the custom tailored appearance of cut-and-sewn headliners, but which eliminates the myriad of problems associated with the installing and fitting of cut-and-sewn headliners. Moreover, the headliner construction of the present invention can be installed within a vehicle passenger compartment even after the vehicle windshield and backlite have been assembled. The headliner of the present invention will also be found to be entirely self-supporting so as to obviate the many objections relating to the use of listing wires and the like, although where desired, ancillary supporting means can be employed without in any way detracting from the other advantageous features of the headliner design. Additionally, a variety of covering mediums can be used so as to provide for universality of application, although where extremely low cost is desired, the headliner material per se may be textured and/or colored and thus not require a decorative covering medium. An additional feature of the present invention resides in the fact that the headliner may be installed in multiple sections when desired and will exhibit significant weight savings over certain types of molded headliners heretofore known and used.